A Midnight Talk
by ketsuki
Summary: Just a little scenario between Kuroro and Shizuku, two of the coolest characters in HxH. Ugghh...right next to Kurapica and Killua and Gon and...well, you understand ^^ I'm so glad there's a HxH section now! R&R plz!


A/N: Yess! I can't believe fanfiction.net did it! ^^ When I watched HunterxHunter, I tried finding fiction on the net but hardly any came up, so I checked ff.net and to think, THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A SECTION FOR THIS INCREDIBLE ANIME! So I immediately e-mailed them and now…*drumroll* HunterxHunter is now part of the anime section of ff.net! Mwahahahahaa! I bet many other people have suggested this anime before, and now, it's here! Yay!  
  
P.S: By the way, Shizuku is the girl with the killer vacuum cleaner called Deme-chan. R&R please! My first HxH fic; takes place the night before Shizuku's first appearance. Meaning the night before she arm-wrestled with Gon for the diamond ring. Enjoy!  
  
  
  
A Midnight Talk  
  
Written by: Shizuku  
  
23/04/02  
  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
She gently closed the book, her largely innocent eyes closing serenely. Yet another book finished. Having done reading, she placed the book by her side and looked around her.  
  
Her fellow members of the Genei Ryodan sat in carious places scattered around their so-called 'headquarters', which was simply an old warehouse in the outskirts of Yorkshin City. It was, after all, just a simple make shift base for them while they were resting here.  
  
She sighed and leaned back, wrapping her arms around her legs, being her knees up. Tomorrow they would be attacking the auction to steal the goods that would be displayed there.  
  
She had joined with the Genei Ryodan only a few years back, barely experienced in the art of Nen. When she had joined, she had had a spider tattooed to her back with her number. The rest of the members had patiently taught her how to use her nen, after finding out that she was a Gugenka-type. And she had made Deme-chan, her 'killer vacuum cleaner'.  
  
And they had become her family.  
  
No, not family, rather comrades. They weren't friends. They worked together, yes, but they were not friends, except for a few who had joined the Ryodan together, like Nobunaga and Ubogin. Franklin was like her older brother, but there was only one thing they did together. Kill.  
  
With that last thought, she shook her head, black hair flinging in different directions. Using her right hand to push herself up, she dusted herself off and jumped down from the large metal boxes she had sat on before.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
She stopped, looking back abruptly to see everyone staring at her. Pakunoda and Phinx were not here, probably guarding the dancho, but the rest were. Coltopi, Machi, Feitan, Nobunaga, Hisoka, Ubogin, Shalnaaq, and Bonorenolf all stared her. She suddenly felt horribly self-conscious.  
  
"For a walk. It's stuffy in here", came her answer, as she innocently looked at them with wide brown eyes, pushing her thickly rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose.  
  
"Be careful, Shizuku. You don't know what lurks out there", Franklin advised her quietly.  
  
She blinked, the nodded. "Okay. I'll be back in an hour", she said, turning to go. She heard the newest member, Hisoka's high pitched giggle follow her as she made her way out of the building, but dismissed it. It was nothing to ponder about.  
  
Feeling a bit freer then before, she started walking away from the building, an innocent yet nonetheless monotonous look on her face. Having kept that expression on her face for years to throw off her enemy, she was regularly using it in her normal life when she wasn't doing her job as well.  
  
She felt snug and warm in her black turtle and blue jeans, though a prime target for murderers or rapists. She wondered what would happen if she was attacked. She wasn't eager to try, but she was never attacked before, she plainly wondered.  
  
She stopped walking at the borderline between the forest and the plains that stretched beyond the horizon. Despite the sheer size of Yorkshin City, there were still many undeveloped lands out there. This was one of them. It was not strange to have non-developed lands right next to a city.  
  
She dragged in a breath of fresh air and let it out quietly. What she had said was true. It was stuffy in that building, and staying in there day in and day out could be tiring.  
  
Glancing up, she saw millions upon millions of stars. As she watched the glittering lights, she remembered someone saying – she couldn't remember whom – that stars were as numerous as the grains of sand on a beach. She found that highly impossible, but who was she to argue with pure philosophy?  
  
"Beautiful, aren't they?"  
  
A deep voice, yet with a musical tinge to it, echoed through the empty world around her and she stiffened, before relaxing. She had never directly spoken to him before, but just hearing his voice sent shocks running up and down her spine. She suspected he had that effect on everyone as well.  
  
She turned around and nodded in respect. "Yes, they are, dancho".  
  
She had thought he had already left. After speaking to them as a group, he always seemed to disappear with his guards, Pakunoda and Phinx. Apparently, she was wrong.  
  
The man, who was at least half a head taller then her, nodded and glanced back up. "The stars tell a story, you know. Each star speaks of a person no longer here. Or a person yet to come".  
  
She blinked, as she often did whenever she was confused or simply to add to her 'innocent' picture she painted in everyone's heads. In this case, she was confused. "Do you come out to watch the stars every night, dancho?"  
  
He turned to her; his dark midnight blue eyes fringed with thick lashes seemed to burn a hole through her. She hardly found him intimidating, just…mysterious. "They are worth every second of my time, Shizuku".  
  
Shizuku nodded and looked away, not wanting to look at her leader. Hard to believe she had worked for him for more then two years and she couldn't even look him in the eye.  
  
"It's hard to find time to spend with the other members", the dancho said lightly, his eyes moving from her to the sky again.  
  
"You must have many things to do".  
  
"What do you do during the morning?" he asked.  
  
She shifted uncomfortably. "I find things to occupy my time". She found it strange that her walls of defense were crumbling. Taking a deep breath, she blinked and turned to the dancho, wide eyes once again showing a childish innocence. "I go to the library. There are interesting books there to read".  
  
"Do you…ever find it hard?" the dancho glanced at her again, looking rather uncertain.  
  
She fought not to raise an eyebrow at his inquiry, and instead, asked him politely what he meant.  
  
"When you…do whatever I tell you to do. Is it hard?" he wanted to know. He shifted, the fancy outfit he wore ruffled silently.  
  
She pondered this quietly, as she crossed her arms in thought. Did she ever find killing a person with her trusty Deme-chan hard? Truth is, no. She found it completely natural. In other people's morals, it would be wrong, but to her, she had been doing it for years. Or maybe it had nothing to do with how long she had been doing it. When she first did kill, she felt fine. It wasn't like it was the end of the world or anything.  
  
Shizuku repeated what she had just thought in her mind.  
  
"I see", came the short answer from the dancho.  
  
"I'm not a completely cold hearted and heartless killer. I do it when I need to. It's not wrong to me, but others would find it revolting. I don't go around killing people. Some think the Genei Ryodan do that", she explained, feeling a bit more at ease around her leader. It was easier to talk to him, now that she knew that even he could be a bit insecure at times.  
  
The dancho frowned, then sighed quietly, barely audible. Shizuku only managed to catch it slightly. "Doesn't it bother you?"  
  
She shook her head almost immediately. "If I walk down the street right now, no one would know I'm a member of the Ryodan. Therefore, I don't have to put up with any type of stereotyping or members of the Mafia trying to track me down".  
  
He nodded, understanding in his eyes. She was relieved to know he finally understood. She didn't feel like talking so much tonight.  
  
She turned away from him and her eyes turned towards the sky, once again gazing at the stars. So numerous were they, that she couldn't even count them in one quadrant. There would be millions, or billions of them, and she would never find out. She was curious as to how many there truly were.  
  
"Why did you join us, Shizuku? Is there any special reason?"  
  
The voice once again cut through the air and she glanced over at her leader again, brown eyes questioning.  
  
"Is it too personal?"  
  
"Yes".  
  
"Can you tell me?"  
  
"No".  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Mainly because it's my own business. I'm sorry, dancho, I can't".  
  
He nodded, smiling for the first time since talking to her. She felt the urge to grin, but refused too. She never smiled, no matter how innocent she wanted herself to look. She wouldn't.  
  
"Tonight seems magical. All the stars are out tonight. Do you think something is going to happen tomorrow?"  
  
Shizuku blinked, then looked up at the sky again. "Maybe. I can't tell the future by the stars, so I wouldn't know".  
  
The dancho gave a sideways look at her. "Sometimes you have to take the chance. To be cautious all the time doesn't necessarily mean you'll be safe. Taking risks is part of life".  
  
"I think my current job is enough of a risk", she snapped, and then blinked in surprise at her own tone.  
  
He also looked a bit taken back, and then smiled. "Of course".  
  
Then he turned and made as if to turn back. "You should be heading back. It's cold out here".  
  
She shook her head defiantly. "It's okay. I'm warm".  
  
His eyes traveled to her turtleneck and jeans. "If you say so. It was nice talking to you, Shizuku", he uttered, before turning around and disappearing into the darkness.  
  
Shizuku turned around, not even bothering to watch him walk away. It wasn't as if she'd be able to catch where he went off to everyday after he was done giving instructions.  
  
She shifted her posture slightly, her head tilted back to watch the stars again. She was indeed warm, and she didn't feel like going back yet. Silently, she estimated the time she had spent out here. Walking here, talking to the dancho, till now. About twenty minutes.  
  
'I still have forty minutes to go', she said and inside, she smiled. On the outside, her brown eyes merely sparkled with mirth, her mouth set in a line, her glasses sliding down her nose. Merely a picture of a forlorn sixteen (or so) years old girl, admiring the stars.  
  
But on the inside, she was Shizuku, a member of Genei Ryodan, and a killer.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Owari 


End file.
